THE MAN who master-minded the takeover of Railtrack by Network Rail ten years ago is moving to National Express. Sir John Armitt, who has most recently chaired the Olympic Delivery Authority, will become chairman of the transport group on 1 February after first joining the Board as a non-executive director at the start of the New Year.

An engineer by profession, Sir John ran Railtrack when it was in Railway Administration in 2001 and 2002, and stayed with its successor Network Rail as the company's first chief executive until 2007.

He will be replacing John Devaney at National Express, who has been chairman of the Group since 2009 and announced his intention to retire in July.

Sir John said: “I am very pleased to join National Express Group as its Chairman, a company that is respected internationally for the quality of its services. I would like to pay tribute to John Devaney for his Chairmanship of the business and look forward to building on his successful tenure in the coming years."

National Express has been losing much of its railway presence in the past few years as most of its franchises were transferred to other owners. It also surrendered the East Coast franchise in November 2009 after failing to earn enough revenue to pay the agreed premiums to the DfT, but has more recently been bidding for new rail contracts.

It is currently still the operator of London commuter line c2c and also the holder of the concession to operate Midland Metro trams, as well as running the largest intercity coach network in Britain.